Sensex in red; consumer durables stocks down

Mumbai, April 7: A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed in the red for the third consecutive session Monday as consumer durables, bank and healthcare stocks declined on profit booking.

Markets were cautious as the five-week polling exercise began in the day for the general election.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 22,355.56 points, closed at 22,343.45 points — down 16.05 points or 0.07 percent from its previous day’s close at 22,359.50 points.

It touched a high of 22,481.62 points and a low of 22,197.51 intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 6,695.05 points — up 0.70 points or 0.01 percent.

The S&P BSE consumer durables index lost 83.03 points, bank index was down 56.91 points and healthcare index was lower by 25.59 points.

However, the metal index rose by 24.20 points, followed by FMCG index — up 9.92 points — while TECk index was marginally higher by 0.02 points.

In a major takeover announcement of the day, India’s largest drug-maker by market capitalisation Sun Pharma said it will buy out Japan’s Daiichi-controlled Ranbaxy Laboratories for $4 billion in an all-share deal.

The major Sensex gainers were: Sesa Sterlite, up 2.34 percent at Rs.194.40; Mahindra and Mahindra, up 1.26 percent at Rs.1,009.90; Tata Steel, up 1.01 percent at Rs.405.95; State Bank of India (SBI), up 0.95 percent at Rs.1,922.25; and Coal India, up 0.74 percent at Rs.284.10.

The main losers were: BHEL, down 3.32 percent at Rs.177.85; Cipla, down 1.84 percent at Rs.396.65; ICICI Bank, down 1.73 points at Rs.1,209.05; DrReddys Lab, down 1.64 points at Rs.2,602.40; and Maruti Suzuki, down 1.20 percent at Rs.1,903.95.